Letters: Smoking more harmful than guns

If we were to ask the question "Why gun control?", what would the most common answer be? One would have to assume that it would have something to do with saving the lives of Americans.

If this is in fact the case, would not common sense dictate that we address the largest killer among us? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking kills more people in the United States each year than car accidents, alcohol, AIDS, murders, illegal drugs and suicides combined.

Then why are rifles, which constitute about 5 percent of all firearm-related deaths, suddenly targeted for restriction? Should we not target tobacco first?

This proven poison kills about 440,000 people a year. It costs nearly $200 billion in health care and lost productivity per year. Yet guns are the biggest threat to America?

The fact is that American lives have nothing to do with the politics. Tobacco is legal simply because it provides billions in revenue.

So why gun control? It's not about American lives because there is much more sensible legislation available to save lives. Is it revenue? Possibly, there is discussion of a firearms tax. But again, that will not save lives. Even if every assault weapon was taxed or even disappeared today, the effect on gun violence would negligible if there were any effect at all.

So I ask, why is the focus on gun control and more specifically, on assault weapons?

Michael Jacobson,

Neenah

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Letters: Smoking more harmful than guns

If we were to ask the question 'Why gun control?', what would the most common answer be? One would have to assume that it would have something to do with saving the lives of Americans.

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